Career
Furber contributed to the group"s work, including collaborating on a book documenting the plants discovered and named by the group. He had a nursery in Kensington in London (near modern Hyde Park Gate/Gloucester Road) from around 1700 until his death. Furber"s most notable work was Twelve Months of Flowers, published in 1730.
The book was written as a catalog of plants and seeds, and featured twelve detailed engravings of seasonal plants in bloom.
Henry Fletcher produced each of the twelve hand-colored engravings from paintings by Pieter Casteels. Each plant was numbered, with a list of the corresponding species names provided.
More than 400 different species of plant were featured. The plates were originally sold on a subscription basis for £1 5s in uncolored form, or £2 12s 6d for a colored version.
The book was reprinted in 1982.
In 1732, Furber produced a follow-up work entitled Twelve Months of Fruit. Like his previous collection of flowers, Twelve Months of Fruit featured twelve full-color plates with 364 different fruit. Each plate focused on one month, and showed the varieties of fruit that would ripen during that month.
Other works by Furber include a 1732 book entitled The Flower Garden Displayed, a general-purpose book written for a wider audience.
He also had a position as an overseer of the poor in Kensington (Street Mary Abbots parish, 1718) and was a churchwarden between 1725-1726 and 1736-1737.